Door latch



L. OT'E'ENGER DOOR LATCH Original Filed Sept.

EEFFELEE:

Patented Jan. 6, 1931 [PATENT OFFICE LEON o'r'rmenn, or new YORK, n. Y.

DOOR, EATGH original application filed September 5, 1925,. Serial No. 54,645. Divided and this application filed May 1a, 1927, Serial No. 191,026. Renewed July 2, 1929.

This invention relates to, door latches, and more particularly to latches for automobile doors of that type which are provided with means for preventing the' retraction of the 5 latch bolt and opening of the door by the operation of the exterior handle.

The subject matterof this application constitutes a division of the disclosure contained in my pending application Serial No. 54,645, filed September 5, 1925, now Patent No. 1,639,103, August 16, 1927, and has for its primary object and purpose to provide a retracting means for the latch bolt which includes a rotatably mounted exterior operating handle and amea'ns manually operable independently of saidhandle to effect an operative connection between the handle and the bolt and cause a retraction movement of the bolt upon rotation of the handle. a It is also a further object of my invention to provide ameans for establishing or destroying the operative connection between the externally operated retracting means and the latch bolt while permitting of the free retraction movement of the bolt at all times by means of an operating member on the inner side of the door.

In a practical embodiment of my invention, the latch bolt retracting means includes the usual rollback and an operating handle therefor, and a manually controllable clement movable with respect to the rollback to a position whereby the retracting mechanism is rendered operable upon rotation of the hanin which the handle is free to be rotated without retracting the bolt.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an exterior rotatable operating handle and a key-operated memberaxially movable on said handle and .coacting in one position thereof, with a part fixed to the latch rollback to positively connect the handle to said rollback and retract the latch bolt when the handle is rotated, and said member in another position being disconnected from the rollback whereby actuation of the-latter upon rotation of the handle is prevented.

With the above and other objects in View,

the invention consists in the improved door dle to retract the latch bolt, or to a positionlatch, and in the form, construction and rela- Figure 1 is a horizontal section through a portion of an automobile door showing one embodiment of my present invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View on an enlarged scale taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken. on the line 33 of Fig. 2

Fig. 4 is'a similar sectional view taken the line i -4 of Fig. 1; a i

Fig. 5 is a detail section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is an elevation showing a typical type of automobile door latch to which my present improvements may be applied.

In the accompanying drawings, for purposes of illustration, I have shown a section of a'motor vehicle door 10, the front surface of which is covered by a' metal face plate 11. To the rear face of the door structure, the latch case indicated at 12 is adapted to be secured. \Vhile the latch mechanism may be of various forms, in Fig. 6 of the drawing I have'shown a type of such mechanism as commonly used in motor vehicle door latches. As

herein shown, the usual rollback 13 is mounts ed at its oppositeends in the spaced side walls of the latch case and is adapted to be actuated by an exterior operating handle to be presently described. This rollback is adapted to coact with an arm 15 formed on the latch bolt 14. In longitudinally spaced relation to this arm the latch bolt is provided with an upwardly projecting lug indicated at 16 with which an interior operating lever 17 pivotally mounted at its lower end as at 18 between the walls of the latch case is adapted to engage whereby the latch bolt may be retracted from the inner side of the door.

The outside operating handle generally indicated at 19 includes a cylindrical shank 20 which extends through the transverse opening 21 formed in the door structure. This shank 20 is formed with a tubular section 22 and in the bore of the rollback 13 a shaft 23 is rigidly fixed. This shaft at its outer end is provided with an enlarged cylindrical head 24 which loosely fits within the end of the tubular part 22 of the handle shank so that said shank may rotate freely relative to the head 24. The shaft and head are however, connected and held against relative longitudinal movement by means of suitable keys The outer end face of the head 24 is centrally provided with arectangular lug 26 thereon.

Within a suitably formed bore in the bandle 19 the cylinder 27 of a conventional pin tumbler lock is arranged, said cylinder having a longitudinal extension 28 which is rotatably engaged within an axial bore formed in a cylindrical bolt 29 arranged for axial movement within the tubular section 22 of the handle shank. This bolt at one end is provided with a key-way 30 to receive the key lug 31 fixed to the wall of the handle shank which prevents relative turning movement of said shank and the cylindrical bolt 29. This bolt is also provided with a spiral. circumferentially extending slot 32 in which eradially projecting stud 33 fixed in the lock cylinder extension 28 is engaged. The inner end of the bolt 29 has a reduced extension provided in its end face with a rectangular recess 34 to receive the lug 26on the head of the rollbackshaft 23. Between said head and the bolt 29 an expansion spring 35 is interposed and normally tends to hold the bolt 29 in the position seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings and.

disconnected from the rollback shaft.

Foitthe purpose of preventing casual rotation of the handle shank and the bolt 29 relative to the rollback shaft 1 may provide a leaf spring 36 extending transversely across the opening thronghthe door and having its opposite ends in the door structure and bearing at its intermediate portion upon a flattened surface 3'? formed on one side of the handle shank.

Fro-in the above. description,-it will be understood the latch bolt may be retract-ed to open the by engaging the square lug 26 on the end of the rollback shaft in the recess 3a in the end of the bolt 29, such engage ment being effected by a movement of said bolt in one direction. Thus upon turning the handle at the outer side of the door, the rollback wi l be actuated and the latch bolt drawn back orretracted. When'howevei, the

on the rollback shaft, the outside handle is free to be turned or rotated, without retracting the bolt, so that in this condition of the In the specific embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the drawings, the proper key must first be inserted into'the cylinder lock and the cylinder turned. The lug 33 carried by the cylinder extension will thereupon exert a camming action on the walls of the spiral slot 32 of the bolt 29 and shift said bolt longitudinally in the tubular section of the handle shank, thereby compressing the spring 35 until the lug 26 is received in the recess 34 of the bolt 29. Having thus effected the connection between the handle and the rollback, the latter may then be actuated by rotation of the handle to retract the latch bolt. After the door is closed, the rotation of the lock cylinder is reversed, thus reversing the movement of the bolt 29 and disengaging said bolt from the lug 26. After the key has been withdrawn-from the lock cylinder, it will be apparent that since the handle shank may ro' tate freely with respect to the rollback shaft 23, any attempt to retract the latch bolt from the outer side of the door by rotation of the handle will be futile. In other words, in this embodiment of the invention, the operating handle is normally disconnected from the rollback in so far as any actuation of the latter to retractthe bolt is concerned and in order to effect such retracting movement, it is necessary by means of the proper key to first actuate the sliding bolt 29 arranged iii the handle shank. However, it will be apparent, that in so far as the fundamental idea of an independent manually operable means for effecting an operative connection between the handle and the retractin mechanism is concerned whereby the latch b tracted upon rotation of the handle, the same might also be exemplified in various other alternative mechanical forms.

I have herein shown the handle shank rotatably supported at the outer sideof the door in an annular flexible bearing element 40 which is contained within a hollow metal escutcheon member fixed to the outer face plate 6 of the door structure. However, no claim is made to this combined escutcheon and handle shaft bearing, since such subject matter is fully described and claimed in a co-pending application for patent Serial No. 696,426, filed by me on March 3, 1924.

Also, it will be evident that the specific olt may be rcloo form of the handle shank and of the slidable bolt together with'the operating connections between this bolt and the cylinder lock are susceptible of embodiment in various other structural forms. Accordingly, in practice,

I reserve the right to resort to all such legiti-' 1. In combination with a door structure having a handle receiving opening, a latch secured upon the inner side of the door and having a rollback provided with a part projecting exteriorly of the latch case into said opening, an operating handle extending through said opening in the door structure from the outer side of the door, means loosely connecting the inner end of said handle to said projecting part of the rollback for rotationrelative thereto, and key-operated means carried by said handle movable independently thereof and having means to engage said projecting part of the rollback to actuate the latter upon rotation of the handle.

2. In combination with a door structure having a handle receiving opening, a latch secured upon the inner side of the door and having a rollback provided with a part projecting exteriorly of thevlatch case into said opening, an operating handle extending through said opening in the door structure from the outer side of the door, means loosely connecting the inner end of said handle to said projecting part of the rollback for rotation relative thereto, a member rotatable with the handle and having means to engage means on said projecting part of the rollback and connect said handle and rollback for unitary rotation, means yieldingly holding said memher in disconnected relation to the projecting part of the rollback, and key-operated means carried by the handle for actuating said member to efiect an operative connection betwee the handle and the rollback. I

3.. In combination With a door structure having a handle receiving opening, a latch secured upon the inner side of the door and having a rollback provided with a part projecting exteriorly of the latch case, into said opening, an operating handle extending" through said opening in the door structure from the outer side of the door, means loosely connecting the inner end of said handle to said projecting part of the rollback for'rotation relative thereto, armember rotatable with the handle and having means to engage means on said projecting part of the rollback and connect said handle and rollback for unitary rotation, means yieldingly holdingsaid member in disconnected relation to the projecting part of the rollback, a key-operated bolt extending axially within said member, and said bolt and member having coacting cam means to impart alongitudinal movement to said member upon rotation of the bolt and thereby connect said member with the projecting part of the rollback to actuate the latter upon rotation of the handle.

4. In combination with a door structure having a handle opening therethrough, a latch secured to the inner side of the door,a rollback provided with a part projecting from i the latch case into one end of said opening, a handle extending through said opening from the outer side of the door including atubular portion surrounding said projecting part of the rollback, means for preventing disconnection of the end of the handle from said projecting part of the rollback while permitting of their normal relative rotation, and keyoperated means for connecting said handle to i a latch secured to the inner side of said door structure and provided with a rollback, having a part secured in fixed relation thereto, an operating handle extending through said opening from the outer side of the door, means connecting the inner end of said handle with the rollback but permitting of their normal relative rotation, and key-operated means mounted on said handle for movement relative thereto including a part having means to coact with said fixed part on the rollback to connect the handle to the rollback to actuate the latter upon the rotation of said handle. n

I 6. In combination with a door structure, a latch secured upon the inner side oi the door having a latch bolt and a rollback therefor having a projecting part, and retracting means for said bolt including independent handle members, spaced apart longitudinally of the bolt and operable from opposite sides of the door to retract the bolt, one of said handle members extending through a transverse opening in the door structure and adapted to actuate the rollback, and manually c0ntrollable means constituting a part of the retracting means movable relative to said projecting part on the rollback into and out of cooperative relation therewith to render the latter outside retracting means for said bolt spaced apart longitudinally of thejbolt, said outside retractin means including a rollback, a memv ber mova le into and out of coope-rativerelation with the rollback and in the latter position rendering said outside retracting means ineifective to retract the latch bolt, and means for actuating said member to one position constituting a part of one of the retracting means through which force is transmitted to &

retract the bolt upon actuation of said retracting means, but permitting at all times of.

a retraction movement of the bolt by the actuation of said inside retracting means.

8. The combination with a latch mounted on one side of a door, of a latch-operat ng device comprising .a handle operable from the other side of said door, a handle shank pass-- ing throughsaid door and connected at one end of said handle, an element projecting from the rollback of the latch into the other end of said shank, said shank being rotative with respect to said element and axially immovable, and key-actuated means disposed within said shank adapted to engage said element for operating said latch through said means.

9. The combination with. a latch mounted on one side of a door, of a latcl1-operating device comprising ahandle operable from the other side of said door, a handle shank passing through said door and connected at one end to said handle, an element projecting from the rollback of the latch into the other end of said shank, said shankbeing rotat; able on said element and axially immovable, and key-actuated meansdisposed within said shank and axially movable to engage said element for operating said latchthrough said means.

10. The combination with a latch mounted on one side of a door, of a latch-operating device. comprising a handle operable from the other side of the door, a handle shank passing through said door and connected at one end to said handle, an element projecting from the rollback of the latch into the other end of said shank, said shank being rotatable with respect to saidelement and axially immovable, key-actuated means disposed within said shank adapted to engage said element for operating said latch through said means, and a handleaxially offset from said first handle for independently operating the latch from the latch side of the door.

11. The combination with a vehicle door, of a latch mounted on one side thereof, a rotatable horizontal outer latch handle, a vertical inner latch handle, and key operable means for operatively disconnecting the outer handle from the latch so that the same shall rotate without actuating the latch.

12. The combination with a vehicle door,

of a latch mounted on one side thereof, a rotat able horizontal outer latch handle,-a vertical inner latch handle, and key operable means for operatively disconnecting the dinally of the latch bolt from the outer handie, and key operable means for operatively disconnecting the outer handle from the latch so that the same shall rotate without actuating the latch, the vertical handle being at outer latch handle, an inner latch handle spaced apart longitudinally of the bolt from said outer handle, said outer handle being freely movable and ineffective to actuate said latch, and axially movable means confined in said outer handle for operatively connecting said handle to saidlatch.

16. The combination with a vehicle door, of a latch mounted on one side thereof, an outer latch handle, an inner latch handle spaced apart longitudinally of the bolt from said outer handle, said outer handle being normally freely movable and ineffective to actuate said latch, and a shiftable member in said outer handle for operatively connecting the same to said latch.

17. The combination with a vehicle door, of a latch mounted on one side thereof, an outer latch handle, an inner latch handle spaced apart longitudinally of the bolt from said outer handle, and means confined in said outer handle for making said handle "freely movable and ineffective to actuate said latch. in testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, A have signed my name hereto.

LEON OTTINGER.

outer handle from the latch so that the same i i shall rotate without actuating the latch, the

vertical handlebeing at all times efiective to operate said latch.

13. The combination with a vehicle door, 

